Saturday, December 10, 2011

Thousands and a millions of years ago, Australia went through a boom of Megafauna. Cow-sized Wombats! Huge Kangaroos! Massive Snakes! There was even a Giant Koala!

Unfortunately... the Giant Koala wasn't really all that giant. Fossils demonstrate that the species was about 1.3 larger, but much heavier and more robust.

What makes the species really interesting is that they happened to live side by side with modern Koalas. They were not their ancestors, but rather their genus sharing cousins. This brings up questions regarding where Koalas actually came from, as for a long time they were considered to be descendants of the Giant Koalas. So far the fossil record hasn't provided the full picture (which is common, as there are very exact conditions that must be met for something to fossilize).

Unfortunately, we do not know what caused the extinction of the Giant Koala. But with modern Koalas facing a similar fate, we may see history tragically repeat itself.Status : Extinct for 50,000 yearsLocation :AustraliaSize : Weight around 30lbs (13kg)